SINGLE NEWS: The Goa Express drop ‘Be My Friend’

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Teenagehood, brotherhood and a love for alternative music have united The Goa Express from the off. Hailing from the Northern industrial towns of Todmorden and Burnley.

I saw them play ages ago in the room above The Golden Lion in Todmorden. They played to a packed room, a rammed full room, to what I can only describe as an adoring crowd. I was impressed, hugely impressed. Sure they were a little rough around the edges, and there’s nothing wrong with that. But they had ‘the stuff’. Since then I’ve been keeping an eye out for them. I been impressed with their releases, and this, their second single proper, is another belter.

‘Be My Friend’ pushes the importance of friendship as something deeper, and to reject the falseness and flattery of the modern world. The band further describe the song’s message as being about “taking a step away from those who’re always trying to get close to you and as both a shout out to individuality and an acceptance of rejection. It’s a dismissal of the modern world’s hyper-connectivity and a return to privacy, rather than the involvement of everyone knowing everyone’s business all of the time.”

The song also captures the essence of the unfettered lifestyle the band were living at the time that they were able to capture themselves in the music video for “Be My Friend”, a video directed by the band themselves after teaching themselves how to use video editing software one evening during the lock-down:

“It’s a collection of stupid nights out and just day to day stuff that had mostly been recorded on Joey’s phone. None of these videos were ever taken with the intention of them being used in a music video.”

The band are:

James Douglas Clarke – Guitar / Vocals
Joey Stein – Guitar
Naham Muzaffar – Bass
Joe Clarke – Keyboard
Sam Launder – Percussion

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Frank is the website guy for Local Sound Focus. Takes a lot of photos and loves writing about new music.